


Sweater Weather

by emperors_girl



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Beast Hank McCoy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:14:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26962753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emperors_girl/pseuds/emperors_girl
Summary: Alex can’t stop noticing the piles of blue fur all over the damn apartment building. But what kind of animal would shed blue fur? And what does it have to do with H. McCoy, Super?
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Hank McCoy/Alex Summers
Comments: 11
Kudos: 137





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [girlwhowaited](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlwhowaited/gifts).



> girlwhowaited asked for blue!Hank/Alex and I... only sorta did that 😂 I’m sure this isn’t what you were picturing but I hope you like it anyway! Maybe next time I’ll have Hank just casually be blue in the background of another plot.

“See, Scotty,” Alex says, nudging his brother in the ribs with his elbow. “Not so bad, is it?”

They’re standing outside their new apartment building, staring up at it. Alex, who’s never been here before, is hugely relieved to find it in good condition: old but clean and well-maintained. 

“I guess not,” Scott agrees, though without enthusiasm. He hadn’t wanted to move. Alex gets it, but he just hadn’t been able to swing the rent increase on their old place.

This place doesn’t seem so bad, though. And it’s unreasonably cheap. That’s why Alex had signed the lease sight unseen instead of coming down to look first. A deal this good wouldn’t stay on the market for long. 

“Come on,” Alex says, touching Scott’s shoulder lightly. “Let’s take some of these boxes up.”

The inside lobby is pretty clean, and it’s well lit, to boot. Their place is on the third floor (no elevator, but he hadn’t expected one). It’s not as big as the house their parents owned once upon a time, but it’s actually slightly bigger than their last place: two bedrooms, a full bath with tub, and a front kitchen/living room combo.

It’s a real steal, considering the price.

“I think we’re gonna like it here,” he tells Scott, and he hopes it’s true.

XXXXX

By the third day in the new place, Alex has a pretty good idea of why the rent is so cheap.

For one thing, the couple in 4B can’t seem to go five hours without having sex. And Alex knows this because their sex always seems to involve incredibly loud, incredibly graphic dirty talk. 

“Oh Erik, right there, right there, you fill me up so well, harder, right there, oh!”

And sometimes it’ll be punctuated by a guttural, “Oh, Charles!”

Alex actually manages to catch a glimpse of both loud-sex-havers as they leave the building one day. One is tall and thin and also smiling dangerously at a shorter man who has a beautiful face. 

Alex wouldn’t know it’s them, except that the shorter guy stops when he sees Alex and introduces them. 

“Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr,” he says. “And you must be Alex Summers. Hank mentioned you the other day when we were chatting. It’s just wonderful to have new neighbors, isn’t it darling?”

This last bit is addressed to Erik, who nods and gives Alex something closer to a grimace than a smile. 

“Uh,” Alex says, and tries not to think about their sex noises. “Nice to meet you.”

“You as well, of course,” Charles says. He opens his mouth to say more, but is cut off by a meaningful cough from Erik.

“Oh do forgive me,” Charles says instead, “we’re meeting my sister and we’re terribly late.”

They’re terribly late because Erik had insisted on a quickie before they left; Alex heard Charles say so through his ceiling twenty minutes ago. 

Alex tells them goodbye and watches as they walk down the stairs. It’s not that he doesn’t see the appeal - if he was in a relationship with anyone as good looking as either of those guys, he wouldn’t be able to keep it in his pants, either.

XXXXX

It’s bad enough trying to explain the sex noises to a a kid who’s not even old enough to know about sex, but that’s not the only neighbor problem Alex has. There’s a guy in 2A who sings in the shower at 6am every single day.

Scott’s reached a level of independence such that he can usually get ready for school all on his own, so Alex only has to roll out of bed to see him onto the bus. Then Alex can get ready for work in time to start his shift at nine.

That’s the plan, anyway. But ever since they moved in here, Alex is up at six and not happy about it. 

Plus, okay, here’s the weird thing: Alex would _swear_ this guy shattered all the glass in Alex’s apartment when he hit a particularly high note the other day. Like, not the windows, thank god, but all the glass cups in Alex’s cupboards were just shards when he went to see what all the noise was about. 

Luckily, Alex didn't own much glassware to start with. He lives with an eight year old, so they mostly deal in plastic. Still, Alex is pretty annoyed about having to clean up the mess. 

He can’t prove it was the guy downstairs but… it seems like a pretty big coincidence that the guy hit a high note and stuff started shattering. 

Either way, Alex cleaned up the mess and then went to work, and when he came home there was a note stuck to his door asking if anything had been damaged due to the “unfortunate musical misadventure of 6:05 this morning.” 

It was signed: H. McCoy, Super.

According to the mailboxes in the lobby, H. McCoy, Super lives in 1B, so Alex scribbled on the reverse side of the paper that everything was fine and then stuck the note to McCoy’s door. He was just turning around to leave when he noticed something blue and fuzzy-looking on the floor. When he bent down to inspect it, he realized it was fur. Blue fur.

Very strange.

XXXXX

After that first time, Alex can’t stop noticing the clumps of blue fur all over the damn apartment building. It’s in piles under the mailboxes in the lobby, it’s in the corners of the hallways, and occasionally it’s even stuck to the bottom of Alex’s apartment door.

“What do you think would shed blue fur?” he asks Scott one day as they're headed outside. There’s a clump of fur on Scott’s coat and Alex plucks it off. 

Scott shrugs, apparently unconcerned. 

“Blue cat?”

And that’s an idea Alex hadn’t considered. He’s never heard of a blue cat before, but is that any more ridiculous than Alex firing plasma beams or the guy downstairs shattering glass?

“Maybe,” Alex says. 

Maybe.

XXXXX

The blue cat, if that’s the real culprit, clearly sheds a LOT. The hallways and lobby seem to get swept and dusted every few days, but then Alex will come home from work and pass half a dozen balls of fur on his way upstairs.

He wonders idly what happens to all the fur the cleaning people collect. It seems like a waste to just throw it away. Someone could use it for insulation or something. Hell, if Alex learned how to knit, he could probably even make a sweater out of it.

It’s nothing more than a passing thought as he’s leaving for work, but laying in bed later that night with his blanket pulled up to his chin, he actually starts to consider it. He doubts he’d be able to learn to knit well enough to make anything useful, but there’s a girl at work who does that kind of thing on Etsy (although not usually from blue cat fur, Alex is willing to bet). He could probably pay her to make a sweater for him.

Thinking along those lines, Alex starts sending Scott out with a bucket every morning to collect all the fur he can from around the building. He also sets a bucket in the lobby with a note for the cleaning crew to please deposit any fur they might find into it.

The day after he puts the bucket in the lobby, he gets another note from McCoy, who wants to know what Alex is doing with the fur.

Alex doesn’t know what business it is of McCoy’s, but he writes back that it’s a crafting project, and McCoy must be okay with that answer because there’s no further response.

When Alex think he’s got enough fur compiled to make a decent start on a sweater, he sets up some time with the girl at work to see her setup.

“I’ve been knitting since I was six years old,” Marie tells him, showing off her carding brushes and spinning wheel. “I’ve done sheep, goat, and even dog fur before, but never anything with this texture… or color.”

“You think it’ll work?” Alex asks, suddenly nervous. He’s had his heart set on this sweater for a while now, but he could probably find something else to do with the fur if needed. Maybe stuff a pillow? 

“Only one way to find out,” Marie says. 

Together, they wash the fur, and then when it’s dry, Marie shows him how to card it so all the fibers line up in the right direction.

“Moment of truth,” she says afterward, and sits down at her spinning wheel.

Slowly and carefully, she feeds the fibers onto the wheel, and a long string of yarn starts to form around it. 

“I think this will work just fine,” Marie says, and Alex fist pumps.

He gets his turn on the spinning wheel a bit later, though Marie has him practice on sheep’s wool first. It’s harder than it looks and his yarn ends up a little clumpy before he gets the hang of it.

When they’ve spun all Alex brought with him, Marie says, “We’re going to need a lot more of this.”

So Alex goes back on the hunt.

XXXXX

Alex does eventually make friends with the other people in his building. Charles invites him and Scott to tea one Sunday afternoon and it turns out to be some kind of building-wide social event.

“Come on in,” Charles says when he answers the door. “Let me introduce you to everyone.”

Alex meets Armando the cabbie, Angel the aspiring model, and Sean the zookeeper, who turns out to live in 2A.

“So you’re the screamer,” Alex says, maybe a little bit accusingly.

Armando laughs and says, “Actually, that’s Charles.”

Everyone gets a good chuckle out of that, even Charles, who doesn’t look the slightest bit embarrassed (although Erik looks mortified enough for the both of them).

“It’s only fair that you should have to hear my sexual encounters,” Charles says. “Considering I can’t help but hear yours.”

Alex doesn’t get it until Charles tells him, “I’m a telepath, dear boy.”

Which explains how Charles keeps introducing Alex as “Alex, a welder,” despite the fact that Alex never told him his job.

It actually turns out most people who live in the building are mutants. Or at least have mutant kids; Alex is also introduced to John and Elaine, whose daughter is a telekinetic.

“Hey Jean,” Scott says before Charles can introduce her.

Alex shoots him a look.

“You guys know each other?”

“Jean’s been helping me collect fur,” Scott explains. 

It probably makes Alex a bad guardian that he hadn’t noticed Scott making friends in the building. Whoops.

“Is Hank coming?” someone asks, and Charles shakes his head.

“No, I’m afraid he’s rather shy of meeting new people. I keep telling him to meet new tenants right away and get it over with, but you know what it’s like when he gets something in his head.”

Then he brings out the tea and scones and jam, and the subject gets dropped.

It’s not until later that Alex realizes he missed a prime opportunity to ask around about the fur.

“Scotty,” he says as they’re brushing their teeth for bed. “Did Jean say anything to you about who keeps shedding all that fur?”

Scott spits toothpaste into the sink and says, “It’s from Mr. McCoy’s Beast.”

Mr. McCoy’s Beast? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Unless it’s a nickname for McCoy’s dick (and it had better not be if Alex’s kid brother and his little girlfriend are talking about it) then it must be some kind of animal. A pet, maybe. But what kind?

After Scott’s in bed, Alex does what he probably should have done in the beginning: he googles “animals with blue fur”.

The first few pages of results are articles on why there are no blue-furred mammals, and then some mentions of animals that are blue but have no fur, like snakes and peacocks.

Then Alex goes a few pages deeper and stumbles into the naughty part of the internet where the weirdos congregate, and there he does indeed find blue fur. And all other kinds of fur. There are apparently people out there called “furries” who dig that kind of thing and they’re all too happy to post costume pics and art of their “fursonas.”

And okay, maybe some of the drawings are a little sexy. Alex may or may not save a few for later use. He figures it’s kinda like wanting to fuck a werewolf, and surely everyone has had _those_ fantasies.

So it’s not a total waste of time, but it also doesn’t get Alex any answers. He’s going to have to go to the source.

XXXXX

The next day before work, Alex leaves a note on McCoy’s door asking if they can meet. When he gets home, though, there’s a note on _his_ door from McCoy, asking what the issue is without answering the request for a meeting.

Hank McCoy is shy, that’s what Charles said. Alex is going to have to make it a surprise attack, then. He can’t give Hank time to back out. 

He changes out of his work clothes, brushes his teeth and hair, and sends Scotty off to play with Jean. Then he goes to 1B and knocks on the door.

“Mr. McCoy?” he calls. “It’s Alex Summers from 3A. Are you home?”

There’s a crash from inside, some swearing, and then a voice says, “Just a minute!”

So Alex waits a minute, and then a minute more. It’s going on three minutes and he’s debating whether to knock again or just leave, when the door finally opens and Alex gets his first look at H. McCoy, Super.

He’s tall, that’s Alex’s immediate thought. He’s gotta be a good five inches taller than Alex. And then Alex sees his blue eyes and his sharp cheekbones and his glossy hair, and Alex’s mind is officially blown.

10/10, would fuck on first date.

“C-can I help you?” McCoy asks.

“Uh,” Alex says stupidly. He pulls himself together. He opens his mouth to ask about the Beast but instead what comes out is, “Do you want to have dinner with me?”

McCoy stammers out some kind of agreement, and that’s how Alex finds himself at a bistro down the street talking about his job.

“I never really meant to get into welding,” he says. “I was actually all set to go to college but then my parents died the summer before and I had to take care of my little brother.”

“I’m sorry,” Hank says, and sounds like he means it. 

Alex shrugs it off. He doesn’t want to think about his parents right now. 

“What about you?” he asks. “How did you get into apartment management?”

“I’m actually a biochemist,” Hank says, and okay, Alex wasn’t expecting that!

“The super position is just something I do as a favor to Charles.”

At Alex’s confused look, he adds, “Charles owns the building. Didn’t you know that?”

Well, that explains why no one ever complains about his sex life. He says as much to Hank, who laughs.

“I actually get complaints all the time about it,” he says. “It’s therapeutic for people to yell about it now and then.”

Alex can see the sense in that. 

“So where do you actually work?” he asks, getting back to the conversation at hand.

Hank looks momentarily uncomfortable, but says, “Right now I'm just working on my own research.”

“Yeah?” Alex asks. “What kind of research is it?”

“Um,” Hank says. “It’s, uh, a serum, an antibiotic of sorts meant to attack, uh, certain cells that cause physical aberrations.”

“Riiiight,” Alex says after a pause. Clearly this is something Hank’s either not comfortable talking about or can’t figure out how to put into layman’s terms for someone with Alex's background. “Okay, then. Well… sounds cool, I guess.”

He casts around for a subject change and says, “So how did you meet Charles?”

Hank tells Alex about Charles doing a guest lecture when Hank was in college, and about looking him up after he graduated to consult on a project. Then Charles had the idea to rent one of his properties for cheap to other mutants and Hank agreed to move into the building to assist with things. 

“So your mutation is… you’re crazy smart?” Alex asks. He’d already talked about his own mutation when he mentioned his job.

“Well,” Hank says, looking uncomfortable again. “Among other things. I’m also very fast, very agile, and very strong.”

“Damn,” Alex says, grinning. “Is there anything you don’t do?”

“Go on dates with cute guys, usually,” Hank says, looking up at Alex through his eyelashes. 

It’s so fucking smooth that Alex can barely stop himself from getting the check right then and there. But he makes himself be patient, and soon enough they’re back at the apartment building, making out in the lobby.

Hank’s got Alex pressed against the row of mailboxes, which are digging uncomfortably into his back, but Alex doesn’t even care.

“Your place or mine?” he asks against Hank’s mouth.

Hank’s place is closer, so they stumble through the door and past what looks like a chemistry setup where the living room should be, and then they’re in Hank’s bedroom.

Hank pushes Alex onto the bed and a cloud of blue fur puffs up around them.

“Um,” Hank says, clearly embarrassed, but Alex doesn’t give a fuck about fur right now. He’s too busy wriggling out of his pants.

Hank gets with the picture and strips, too, except for his socks, which he leaves on. For some reason, Alex finds that incredibly hot, the same way he would if someone fucked him in a public bathroom with their pants barely pulled down. It just feels naughty.

Speaking of fucking…

“You should totally fuck me,” Alex says, and Hank agrees immediately. 

Luckily, Alex always keeps a condom in his wallet, just in case, so he pulls it out and gives it to Hank, then rolls over onto the bed so his face is in the blankets and his ass is in the air. The blankets smell musty but in a good way that goes right to Alex’s dick.

Hank doesn’t waste any time getting his fingers into Alex, who groans and shoves back onto them. It’s been so long since someone did this to him and his own hand just doesn’t compare. 

Hank gives him another finger and spreads them wide so Alex can feel the stretch. It’s so damn good. 

“Come on,” he says, voice slightly muffled by the blankets and his arms. “Just fuck me.”

Hank pulls his fingers back, then there’s a pause where Alex itches in anticipation. Then... there - that’s the blunt head of Hank’s cock pushing into him, spreading him wide, and oh yeah, that’s exactly what Alex needs.

Hank doesn’t give him any time to adjust, just slams his hips forward, hands clenched hard on Alex’s hips to keep him from sliding. 

Alex doesn’t hold back, lets himself make all the noise he wants because no one can hear and if they do, who cares? 

Hank fucks him hard, thrusting forward again and again, and Alex scrabbles in the sheets, trying to get some leverage. It’s not a good position to get his hand on his dick, but he might not need it, the way this is going. 

Then Hank says, “Alex,” in a rough, growly voice and he bites Alex’s fucking shoulder. Alex’s whole body jerks as he comes, and he can feel Hank shuddering as comes, too, deep inside Alex’s body.

“Whoa,” Alex says, trying to get breath in his lungs, but Hank is pretty much collapsed on top of him and he’s really fucking heavy.

“You gotta let me up, man,” Alex says. His legs are definitely going to go numb if he stays in this position any longer.

“Sorry,” Hank says, scrambling back. 

Alex gingerly picks himself up and stretches. He feels so good right now, like he could just collapse back on Hank’s bed and fall asleep for a week.

But then he catches sight of the time on Hank’s alarm clock and suddenly remembers Scott.

“Shit,” he says, looking around for his clothes. “I’ve gotta go make sure someone fed my brother.”

Hank lets Alex use his bathroom to tidy up, and then walks him to the door.

“Let’s do this again,” Alex says, and kisses him goodbye.

Scott, fortunately, had eaten supper with the Greys, so all Alex has to do is take him home and tuck him into bed. 

But later, once he’s in his own bed, Alex realizes he never actually asked Hank about the Beast.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Alex wakes up to a note on his door from Hank with his cell phone number written on it. Good thing Hank’s smart, because Alex totally forgot to exchange numbers last night.

After a bit of waffling on what to say, he texts Hank with a casual, “When are you free again?”

Hank is apparently free most nights, but Alex doesn’t want to abandon his brother again so soon, so he suggests meeting up later in the week. This time they go to a sushi bar downtown where Hank impresses Alex with his chopstick skills and then Alex impresses Hank with his blowjob skills in the restaurant bathroom. 

Hank is easy to talk to, and despite their vast differences, they seem to have a lot in common. They’re both loners who don’t have many friends outside the apartment building, and they both like cars and planes and national parks. 

At the end of the evening, as they’re kissing goodbye in the lobby, Alex finally remembers about the Beast.

“Hey,” he says, pulling back. “I keep meaning to ask about all the blue fur around here. Do you have, like, some kinda blue dog or something?”

 _Or a furry suit_ , he almost adds, but decides not to at the last minute. That might be going too far for a second date, even if they did fuck on the first.

For a minute, Hank just looks at him with wide eyes. Then he takes a jerky step backward and says quickly, “I think I left my oven on.”

Then he just fucking books it into his apartment and slams the door, and Alex is left staring after him. 

What the fuck?

XXXXX

After that, Alex isn’t sure what to think. Maybe it is some kinda weird sex thing, after all. What else would make Hank react like that.

And what’s Alex supposed to do now? Does he push on it? Will he even have the chance? Maybe Hank will just avoid him forever and Alex will have to go back to getting himself off with his own right hand. 

He decides to sleep on it and the next morning he’s got a plan. He’s going to force Hank to see him again, but he’s not going to push on the Beast issue. Honestly, what does it really matter where the fur comes from? Alex was only ever curious. It’s not a life or death question. 

Now to get Hank on the same page. 

After putting Scott on the bus, Alex goes to knock on Hank’s front door. He doesn’t get an answer, so he calls, “Hank, come on man. You can keep your secrets if you want, I don’t care. I just want to see you again.”

There’s another pause and then at last Hank says, “Okay, but I need a few minutes.”

Alex waits impatiently, wondering what the fuck Hank does that he always takes so long to answer his door. Maybe he’s hiding the Beast in some secret room or something. 

At last Hank opens the door, and sure enough, he’s got fur all over his shirt.

“Two things,” Alex says, grabbing a tuft of fur from Hank’s shoulder. “First, I’m collecting this stuff, so if you find any, put it in the bucket in the lobby. And second, I think we should have a quickie before I go to work.”

Hank seems agreeable on both counts, so they have a quickie and then Alex leaves with a pocketful of blue fur for his sweater.

XXXXX

Over the next few months, Alex and Hank go out least once a week and text pretty much every day. Apart from the thing Alex agreed not to mention, it feels like they talk about pretty much everything. Alex finds himself telling Hank things that he’s never told anyone else - not just the deeply private stuff like what happened the day his parents died, but also the boring stuff like what he did at work that day.

He’ll say, “I was in training for six hours straight today and I feel like my brain is leaking out my ears,” and Hank will say, “Tell me about it and I’ll open you a beer.”

And Hank’s also really understanding about Scott. He and Alex will be making out on Hank’s bed and Hank will pull away and say, “Do you need to go check on your brother?”

Scott even comes with them on a few dates, because Alex doesn’t want him to feel left out. 

When he asks after the second time what Scott thinks of Hank, Scott says, “He’s nice, I guess. Kinda quiet.”

“He’s just shy,” Alex tells him. “He’ll talk more once you get to know him. Would you be okay with that? Getting to know him?”

Scott says, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Alex takes it as a win.

XXXXX

Alex’s sweater is coming along nicely. After about eight months at the apartment, he’s been able to collect two huge bags of fur. Every few weeks he goes over to Marie’s and they wash, card and spin it.

Then one day Marie says, “I think we have enough to start knitting.”

They have an agreement about this: since Alex can’t actually afford to pay Marie what a knitted sweater would be worth (30 hours of labor, apparently), she’s going to give him a huge discount if he helps her turn her latest batch of farm-fresh wool into yarn. It means giving up a few weekends that he could be spending with Hank, but it’s worth it, because this is going to be the most badass sweater anyone has ever worn. 

After one of these weekends, Alex collects Scott from the Greys and decides on a whim that they should grab dinner from a food truck at the park. 

“Jean saw the Beast last week,” Scott says out of the blue while they’re waiting in line.

“Yeah?” Alex asks, intrigued. “What did he look like.”

Scott considers. “Big and blue,” he says eventually. “He’s got claws and fangs, she said.”

Alex has wondered in the past if the Beast isn’t just all in Jean’s imagination. The thought surfaces again. 

“How come I never see the Beast?” he asks Scott, trying to test the theory.

“He only comes out at night,” Scott tells him, like it should be obvious. “Or in the middle of the day when no one’s home. That’s how Jean saw him, cuz she was home sick from school.”

Alex considers this for a long while, but by the time it’s their turn to order, he still doesn’t know if he believes it or not. Certainly something is shedding all that fur but… maybe the Beast is a myth after all.

XXXXX

Then finally the day comes when Alex’s sweater is ready. Marie wraps it up for him and puts it in one of her Etsy shop bags. He pays her what he owes and then hugs her.

“Thank you,” he says. “Seriously, I had so much fun doing this.”

“Me, too,” she says, smiling at him. “If you ever want to do it again, just let me know. Or if you want to sell me some of the blue fur, I could make something out of it for the shop.”

“I’ll let you know,” Alex says, and goes home to show Scott the sweater.

He buzzes the whole way home with giddy energy, but he’s brought up short by the woman he meets in the lobby.

“Hey,” she says when she sees him. “Don’t mind me. I’m just waiting for my brother to get done being gross before I go up.”

“Your brother?” Alex asks, but even from four floors down he can hear the sound of Charles getting plowed.

He doesn’t have much thought for that, though, because he’s too busy looking at the woman. The thing is… she’s blue.

She doesn’t have fur or anything (that would be very weird for Alex right now) but she’s clearly got some sort of visible mutation. 

_Visible mutation_. 

Of course. How could he have forgotten about visible mutations? Of course there are no animals with blue fur, but it’s entirely possible for a _mutant_ to have blue fur. Is Alex holding a sweater made out of some _actual person’s_ fur? 

He looks down at the bag, feeling kinda weird. It had been fine when he thought it was an animal, a dog or cat or something. But a person? A person he doesn’t know, at that. 

And come to that, how could a person he doesn’t know have shed all over the building? Do they hide in the walls, only coming out when no one is around, the way Jean said? But why would someone do that?

And Hank… Hank obviously knows who it is. There’s so much fur in that apartment, the Beast has to spend time there! But Alex has never seen anyone but Hank in there. He’d always thought Hank was hiding a dog or something but… what if Hank is hiding a person? What if Hank is hiding another boyfriend?!

“Are you okay?” the woman asks.

“Um,” Alex says. “Yeah. I just… need a minute.”

Surely it’s not possible that Hank has another boyfriend, right?

Right?

But then why did he freak out so bad when Alex asked him about the Beast? Why would he care if Alex knew about his furry roommate unless the Beast isn’t just his roommate. 

Alex suddenly can’t take it anymore. Hank’s door is right there. He raises his hand to knock but then freezes, thinking. If Hank does have another boyfriend in there, knocking will give him the heads up. Alex needs to catch them unawares if he’s ever going to learn the truth 

Slowly, quietly, he reaches down and tries the handle. Locked. Damn. 

For a moment, he thinks crazily about blasting down the door. He wouldn’t actually do it, not when the property damage would be insane and people might get hurt. But he thinks about it anyway. 

Then the woman behind him says, “I think you forgot to knock.”

Alex is too flustered to be anything but honest. 

“Don’t want give him a head start,” he admits.

Her eyebrows, what there are of them, shoot up. Then her skin flickers and she’s suddenly an exact copy of Charles. She shoos Alex down the hall out of sight.

Then she knocks on 1B and says in Charles’s voice, “Hank, darling, are you in there?”

There’s a loud sigh from somewhere in the apartment, then the lock clicks and the door opens.

Just like that - no hesitation, no waiting five minutes, nothing.

“I’m a little busy, but you can come in,” Hank’s voice says, and then there’s the sound of footsteps walking away. 

The woman steps back, and motions for Alex to take her place. He does, terrified of what he might see. 

But there’s no one in sight. 

Alex looks back at the woman, confused, and she hisses, “In the bedroom.”

So Alex steels himself and walks silently toward the bedroom, the place Hank’s fucked him countless times, the place Hank is maybe keeping a secret boyfriend. He hears the front door close behind him but doesn’t look back.

When he gets to the bedroom door, he takes a deep breath and then cautiously pokes his head around the doorframe. And there he is: the Beast. He’s huge and blue-furred and shedding even as Alex watches.

Then the Beast looks up, directly at the doorway, and freezes.

Alex freezes, too, because he recognizes him. His eyes are yellow and his hair is a mop of blue hanging over his forehead, but there’s enough of the face shape for Alex to know.

“Hank?” he asks, completely and totally nonplussed. 

“Shit,” Hank says, and closes his eyes.

“Uh,” Alex says, struggling to find words. “What the fuck?”

Suddenly Hank’s eyes snap open and he looks pissed. Or maybe that’s just the way his fangs are bared.

“How did you get in here?” he demands. “And why are you here?”

“That lady let me in,” Alex says stupidly. He never got her name. “The shape-changer. But I thought…”

He laughs suddenly, so relieved. Hank isn’t cheating on him! Hank isn’t even hiding a secret dog. Hank _is_ the secret dog! 

“I’m not gonna lie to you, man,” he says, and he can feel the stupid smile on his face. “I legit thought you had some other big blue furry guy in here. Like, another boyfriend.”

Hank’s still staring at him, and now that Alex is a little more used to his new overlay, he can tell Hank isn’t mad at all - he’s scared.

But of what? Of Alex knowing his secret?

“Hey,” he says gently, and steps forward to touch Hank’s arm. His fuzzy blue arm. He’s actually incredibly soft, and Alex gets sidetracked a minute just feeling him up.

“Alex,” Hank says, “What-”

“Oh,” Alex says, and stops stroking Hank’s fur. “Right, sorry. I was just gonna say that everything’s fine. I’m not mad that you were lying.”

Maybe he should be, but he gets it. It can’t be easy, being blue. 

“So now that we’ve covered the important things,” Alex pushes on, “do you wanna make out?”

In a strangled voiced that’s got more than a little growl to it, Hank says, “Don’t mock me.”

Alex feels a shiver go down his spine at that tone. 

“I wasn’t,” he says, and it comes out in the husky way his words always do when he’s turned on. “I mean, shit, I get why they call you the Beast but I am super into it right now.”

Must have been all that furry porn he looked at, planting the seeds. Or maybe he just really likes Hank.

“You haven’t seen the worst,” Hank says, and he doesn’t sound mad anymore, just… upset.

“So show me,” Alex says at once.

When Hank hesitates, Alex grabs his hand (bigger than normal and with claws!) and puts it on the seam of his pants where there’s clearly some excitement going on underneath.

“Do you feel me, Hank?” he asks, letting his voice go low again. “Do you feel how much I’m into this right now?”

Hank jerks his hand back and shoves Alex away. But he doesn’t use his full strength, and Alex only stumbles a bit.

“I’m not some exotic sex toy you can just use to get off and then put back when you’re done,” he snaps.

“Oh my god, Hank,” Alex says, rolling his eyes. ”Don’t be dramatic! You’re my boyfriend and I think you’re sexy, no matter what you look like. If you don’t want to have sex with me, fine, but don’t pretend I’m the one with the hang ups here.”

Hank’s big shoulders tense up. And in a small voice at odds with his body, he says, “I just don’t want you to change your mind.”

“I can promise you that’s not going to happen,” Alex says. Taking a chance, he pushes down his pants and sits on the bed to untie his shoes. “What’s your worst quality, your shedding? Cuz I’ve been living with that this long and I didn’t even know it was you.”

“I can’t _touch_ you,” Hank says, voice breaking. 

He holds up his hands as proof and Alex takes one again, looking closely at it. The claws look sharp as fuck, it’s true.

“Are these retractable?” he asks, touching one with his finger. Like a cat, maybe. “Or else can you trim them?”

“I… probably,” Hank stammers. “But I can’t… I can’t finger you.”

And hmm, probably not. 

“I can finger myself,” Alex says. “Or like, you could invent something. A glove, maybe, I don’t know. I mean, hell, if I really wanna get fingerbanged you could take some of that antibiotic serum stuff. That’s what it does, right? Makes you look human?”

“Yeah,” Hank says. “But I can’t get it to last longer than a few hours.”

“So that’s why you never wanted to stay over,” Alex says, connecting the dots. It hadn’t been like, a _thing_ , but Alex had asked once or twice and been turned down. 

“So okay,” Alex says. “Problem solved. Now take off your clothes so I can see you.”

And slowly, reluctantly, Hank does. He strips off his shirt, showing fur all the way down his chest and stomach. Alex can see his nipples through the fur, a lighter cobalt compared to the navy color of his fur. 

Then, glacially slow, Hank takes off everything else. Everything. Even his socks. 

His legs, of course, are also covered in fur. But that’s not what Alex catches Alex’s attention. 

Hank’s feet are weird as fuck. Like a monkey’s, with each toe long enough to grab something, and an opposable big toe that’s really more like a thumb.

“Huh,” Alex says, staring. So this is what’s been hiding in Hank’s socks. Well, it’s not exactly sexy but Alex isn’t about to be scared away by it, or whatever Hank was afraid of. 

He lifts his eyes, tracing Hank’s thick legs again and ending up at his dick. Now there’s something to write home about. Hank was a big guy before, but this is like… ridiculous big. 

Alex can’t wait to have it inside him. He grabs the lube from the nightstand and immediately leans back to shoves two fingers into his hole. He stretches himself with them as quickly as he can without half-assing it; he knows he needs the prep if he’s gonna take this thing without hurting himself. 

When he feels ready, he pulls his fingers out and wipes them on his thigh. Then puts a hand behind each knee and pulls them up to his chest to bare all for Hank. Hank honest-to-god growls at the sight, and lunges. He lands hard on top of Alex, who loses all the air in his lungs.

And then Hank grabs his huge cock and pushes it into Alex without pause or mercy. 

Alex might actually black out a little. It’s just SO much, and Hank keeps going deeper and deeper, further inside Alex than anyone else has ever been, and he’s so big around that the stretch is just on this side of unbearable.

Alex will never be able to have sex with anyone else ever again. This sets the standard.

Hank’s first real thrusts almost pushes Alex off the damn bed, and it’s all he can do to cling to Hank’s fuzzy arms and try to ride it out as Hank fucks him. It’s so much and so deep, and Alex can’t even tell if he’s feeling pain or pleasure. Hank’s claws dig into Alex’s sides and he feels each one like a needle in his skin. Hank’s fur rubs against Alex, against his inners thighs and his chest and even his ankles where they’re wrapped around Hank, desperately trying to keep himself steady. 

Alex can hear himself moaning, even over Hank’s constant low growl, and the sound and the feeling combine to make something almost overwhelming in its intensity.

When Alex comes, he comes harder than he ever has in his life, whole world narrowed down to Hank’s cock in him, pumping what seems like gallons of come into him. He doesn’t know how long it lasts, maybe only a few seconds, but it feels like a never ending wave of sheer sensation.

After he recovers a bit, Alex shoves weakly at Hank’s shoulder. Hank always does this thing where he thinks it’s okay to just squash Alex flat after he comes, and now that he’s probably fifty pounds heavier, it’s even worse than before. Hank makes disgruntled purring noises, but he gets off Alex, who takes deep breaths (both to get the air back into his lungs and because Hank pulling out of him is almost more of an experience than getting fucked was).

When he thinks he’s got enough brain cells back for a conversation, Alex says, “So do you want to come up to my place and spend the night?”

Hank does, so they shower (Hank’s tub drain his equipped with a net to catch shedding fur) and then decamp upstairs, where Scott inspects Hank’s new look and gives Alex the nod of approval.

Then Alex finally gets to show off his new sweater.

“Is that-” Hank starts and then his voice seems to fail him. 

“Your fur?” Alex says. “Sure is. I knew from the minute I saw the first fluff ball that I wanted this stuff all over me. I’m gonna be _so_ warm in this thing!”

“This is so embarrassing,” Hank says, putting one massive hand over his face. “You cannot wear that in public.”

Alex just grins.

XXXXX

Alex does, in fact, wear the sweater in public, and he gets lots of compliments on it. The other folks in the apartment building, once they see how well the fabric keeps in the heat, all start clamoring to buy one.

Hank is exceedingly embarrassed by the whole thing, but Alex thinks it’s brilliant. He eventually realizes there’s a way to kill two birds with one stone: he starts brushing Hank’s fur in both directions every morning and every night. It keeps Hank from shedding as bad and it also makes the collection process easier. 

Marie is going to have _so many_ orders this winter.


End file.
